and may the stars shine brightly for you
by gpfs17
Summary: There is a fine line between good and bad. The same with life and death. Both cannot have an in between, an in death's case, cannot be reverted. Some things were meant to be good, some not. And some things are meant to go, just in the right time.
1. Prologue: Part 1

**A/N:** So. This is sort of my first shot at a _Kingdom Keepers_ story, and I've been debating on writing it for a while.

This will be a mainly Willa-centric fic, but may have some mentions of Willa/Philby later on. It's going to be rather short, in all honesty, maybe five chapters? This particular chapter is short, but I'm planning to make future ones longer. Rated T, but it might change. Feedback is welcome. Thanks for reading!

 **Disclaimer:** The _Kingdom Keepers_ world belongs to the brilliant Ridley Pearson and all things mentioned Disney belongs to Walt Disney and his company.

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 **Prologue: Part 1**

To die was always a strange thing for me to think of. I'd always considered life a one-time thing, that's sort of obvious, but I'd never actually stop to consider the end. It would come when it was my time.

It was quite Disney of me to think of it like that in all honesty. Disney always took life in its stride, as if saying, "Well, if I'm going to die, I'll have an adventure first!" I guess being a Disney Host affected me like that. It made me take life one day at a time, one adventure at a time.

But with those adventures came villains. These characters, things, whatever you wanted to call them, well, they didn't like the whole "Disney" motto. They wanted their own things, things Disney couldn't give them. If they did, that's another story.

I'd never considered the possibility of those villains actually being real, though. I'd never stop and think "Hey, maybe these characters come to life at the parks at night, and so do the good ones!" The idea was absurd to me. Characters like Mickey Mouse or Cruella De Vil only existed on paper or movie screens, right?

Wrong.

These things, people, characters, _whatever_ you wanted to call them not only existed in real life, but they interacted with others, roamed parks; anything you can do, they can too. They had thoughts, dreams, desires, all varying in degree depending on which one you see.

When I officially became a DHI, I never even imagined the sort of things I'd be getting into. All I knew it as was a job as a Disnified tour guide. Me and four other kids doing the same thing - showing people around the Disney parks. What I didn't expect with this job was being able to _cross over into a hologram at night_. I'd originally thought it was a malfunction, unintended, but no, Disney's Imagineers knew what was happening and this malfunction, this _error,_ was fully intended. Characters were acting up and they wanted us to fix it. They called them _Overtakers,_ these villains, and they fully expected a bunch of teenagers to solve what they messed up.

After our first fight with the Overtakers, I knew that there would be a lot more to come. Wayne had warned us the first day that it was dangerous, but he also said that they needed us. We were their last hope in protecting the parks, and inadvertently, every innocent child with dreams of becoming the next Buzz Lightyear, the next Mulan. I figured that it was a good thing that the adventure loving side of me never really left.

The other hosts and I were assigned to protect Disney from them. Prevent them from winning. I did, with all that I had, but one day, all I had just wasn't enough.


	2. Prologue: Part 2

**A/N:** Alright, so not a lot of feedback. That's okay. Maybe some this time around, please? The actual fic starts next chapter, but I'm finishing up the prologue here. The order may seem strange with this part second, and the cliffhanger in the first part, but that's how I'd originally imagined it - I couldn't switch them aha. Hope you like it, and thanks for reading!

 **I forgot to mention** last chapter that this is an AU story, and it takes place as if the last couple books in the series never happened.

 _ **LisaBriley:**_ Thank you so much! I can honestly say I've never had that reaction to something I've written, so this is new aha. I hope you continue!

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly, still don't own a single part of this story, except for the plot. That's it.

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 **Prologue: Part 2**

When I was a little girl, I loved all the adventurists in the world. This counted both in real life and cartoons, but the animated ones tended to stick with me more. Peter Pan, without a doubt, was my favorite. His spunk and childishness sparked a period of make believe games I would force my brothers into playing with me until we were told to go to bed. Sometimes, not even that would stop us.

As I got older, I got strange looks from my classmates when they saw my more boyish ways. I was only seven and stuck in a house with two older brothers, I could only be so girlish. I tended to wear more boyish clothes because of this, and though I was a quieter kid, I was rougher than the other girls in my grade. My classmates often asked me, "Why don't you like girly things? Like the Princesses?"

Truthfully, I never strayed to watch movies that had princesses or the more girly things in it. My brothers were entirely "anti-princess" and they affected me greatly as a young girl. I did what they did, went where they went; I was found more often with a sibling than without one. My brothers never watched the princesses, so I didn't either.

It wasn't like I'd _never_ watched one, I just didn't do it regularly. I'd seen _Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella,_ and _Aladdin,_ how different could the rest be really? Besides, the only princess I'd truly liked was Belle, anyway. I didn't see the point of watching movies that didn't interest me like _Peter Pan_ or some thrill movies did.

My teacher that year let us pick a movie to watch every first Friday of the month. She was a sweet old woman way past her years of teachingl; a movie often taught us more than she did. I never blamed her for that, after all, certain things get harder when you get older. We were allowed to bring snacks with us on movie day too, so everything worked out fine for me.

One month, my first grade class held more girls than boys on movie day. When asked what movie to watch between _Sleeping Beauty_ and another movie, _Sleeping Beauty_ won in a landslide.

I was a bit weary of it at first, in all honesty. I'd read the fairytale _Sleeping Beauty_ and it wasn't one of my favorites; why make a movie where the heroine was asleep for the majority of the tale? However, I grew to like the movie quickly, the fairies were comical and I liked the prince - but one aspect of the film put me off the instant I saw it. The instant I saw _her._

Maleficent.

She was so powerful, such a strong character yet so evil, I was instantly on edge every time she came on the screen. And when she turned into the dragon - don't even get me started. After that, I never watched _Sleeping Beauty_ again unless I had to.

When I became a Keeper, I figured it was only time before I saw the fairy in person. When I finally did, it was worse than I imagined. _She_ was worse in person. I remembered the sliver of fear I'd felt when I first saw the movie, and silently vowed then and there that no child would have to experience her like the other Keepers and I did. It was the first time I felt like a true Keeper.

From then on, things became easier. I trusted the other Keepers more, and they became my second family. I protected them, and they protected me. I went from despising my job to loving it. There were times where I wished I still had my normal life, but then I'd remember all the games my brothers and I would play as kids and realize that I was _becoming_ an adventurist, just like Peter Pan. It was more than I could ask for.

There were hard times, and threats like SBS always looming over us, but I figured as long as I had the other Keepers, and even Jess and Amanda, everything would be okay. We would get out, we would win, just like we always did.

Until the day that we didn't.

The first warning sign should've been that it was a relatively calm day. We _never_ had calm days at this point of being Keepers. The five of us had been together during the day doing Keeper promos, and were planning to cross over during the night. We were in the parks the entire day, and recieved _absolutely nothing._

It should've been a good day, but without even a glimpse of a character, good or bad, we were left confused and paranoid.

"I don't like it," I remember Charlene saying. Her eyebrows were knit together. "Nothing. It's like they're planning something, and I don't like it one bit, Willa."

If only we'd known how true her words were.

That night, we were ambushed nearly the instant that we woke up in the Hob. We were severely outnumbered. Almost as soon as I'd stood, I was surrounded. It was so _loud_ , so _bright_ with sword flashes and laser guns shooting. I was absolutely _terrified._

Finn had tried to get us away, he really had. I remember his words as clear as day. "Run! Run, get to a safe spot! We'll meet up later, just get away from here! _Go!_ " He himself was trying to fight his way out, but he was outnumbered and weaponless, and was going down quickly. Naturally, I went to help, but as soon as I got to Finn's side, he was out and was being carted away by some clunky pirate. I was too slow, and Finn got taken because of it.

I wasn't about to let that happen without a fight.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have chased after him. I shouldn't have tackled the pirate holding Finn hostage, shouldn't have ran straight into my death trap. But in that moment, I didn't care. All I knew was the boy that I considered as my own brother was being taken away, and I wasn't going to let that happen.

The pirate was a horrible fighter. More than likely, he was acting on pure impulse to try and get praise from whichever Overtaker he was working for at the moment. I had knocked him out easily. He may have been an overeager, terrible fighter, but Shan Yu wasn't. He was in the shadows, waiting for my weakest moment. I turned to drag Finn to the nearest safe spot. He was there.

I should've planned a rescue mission with the others.

The villain gave me a cruel smirk and lunged. Everything went black.

I had failed.


End file.
